The NCAA Tournament finished on a low note for CBS.
The National Championship Game drew a 12.8/20 overnight, very impressive in today’s sports television landscape, but still down 6% from the 13.6 overnight for Florida/Ohio State last year. The game drew 16.6 million viewers in prime time, making it the second most watched program of the night — well behind Dancing with the Stars on ABC, which drew 19.5 million viewers.
Having the game go into overtime helped CBS’ fortunes; prior to OT, the game averaged a 12.4 rating. During the overtime, that average swelled to 14.7.
While the 12.8 overnight is down from last year, the rating puts the National Championship Game in elite company. The game is almost assured to finish ahead of last year’s World Series and NBA Finals and this year’s Daytona 500. Additionally, the game could finish ahead of all but one of the BCS games in January.
Still, the 2008 NCAA Tournament will more than likely finish as the second-lowest rated ever. Overnights for all three Final Four telecasts declined, and ratings heading into the Final Four were down 7%.
This comes on the heels of the second-lowest rated World Series last October, the lowest rated NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals in June, and the third-lowest rated college football National Championship game back in January.
